


A Girl After My Own Heart

by FunnyWings



Series: Wayward AF [2]
Category: Supernatural, Wayward Sisters (TV)
Genre: 13.11 coda, 13x11 coda, Bittersweet Ending, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Case Fic, Dreamwalking, F/F, Gen, Grieving, Kaia is not dead guys, relationship dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 06:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13541703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunnyWings/pseuds/FunnyWings
Summary: After Wendy Hanscum is rescued, Donna sends her to Jody in order to recover from her supernatural experience. Claire is determined to find the thing that killed Kaia. Jody just wants to get a good night's sleep.Excerpt:Wendy didn’t really know what to expect when she walked through the front door of Jody Mill’s home. From what Aunt Donna had said, she half expected it to look like something out of Annie. All she knew for sure was that Jody knew about what had happened to her, and that was making it easier for her to breathe. Her mom and dad kept expecting her to talk about it and she just wanted to feel safe again, not relive every terror inducing minute of her kidnapping.What she walked into was a loud argument.





	A Girl After My Own Heart

“You really think I can hit that?” Kaia asked, squinting into the bright sunlight at the can Claire had set up on the fence about fifty paces away. Claire smiled at her, dipping her head down and nodding but not quite meeting Kaia’s eyes. She took out the gun that from the holster she was wearing and passed it to Kaia after making sure the safety was still on.

“Yeah, I’m gonna show you,” said Claire. “You’ll hit it easy.”

“Uh huh,” Kaia said, gulping. “I don’t really like guns, Claire.”

“It’s okay, you’re safe with me,” said Claire, handing Kaia the gun and letting her hand linger there. A gesture of reassurance. “Promise.”

Kaia nodded, a shy smile of her own making its way across her face. Claire grinned back and adjusted Kaia’s posture carefully, making her practice that before showing her how the gun worked.

“Don’t point it at anything you don’t want to shoot,” Claire said. “Or me.”

Kaia stopped laughing long enough to listen to Claire’s instructions about turning the safety off, pointing and squeezing. Then she did as she was told, pointed the gun at the can with the correct posture and let off the shot. It went wide, missing the can by more than a few feet if Claire was judging right by Kaia’s aim.

“Told you I wouldn’t hit it,” Kaia said. Claire gestured for Kaia to try again. Kaia stepped into the posture Claire had shown her, and Claire leaned in behind her, adjusting the position of her arm.

“Just like that,” Claire said quietly, suddenly aware of how silent Kaia had become. “Take the shot.”

The loud bang of the shotgun rang out, and Claire could swear it was the only sound in the world for a moment. The next second there was the sharp ping of the empty beer can ascending to whatever heaven it is recyclables go to. Then there was the click of the safety going back on the gun, then Kaia turning to look at her and the soft swish of air at her sudden movement.

“I did it,” she said, surprised.

“You’re a natural,” said Claire, laughing when Kaia pushed her gently away. “I mean it. The first time I ever had a gun in my hand I was scared half to death. I was also about to rob a convenience store but that’s… that’s another story.”

Some of the warmth of the June afternoon seemed to fade away as Claire sunk into thoughts of false father figures and a less than rosy past. She took the gun back from Kaia, tucking it into her belt and sitting on the blanket on the ground. There was still another six pack of beer in the cooler Claire had brought, but instead of reaching for that Claire found herself picking pieces of grass out of the ground and methodically tearing them apart.

Kaia sat next to her. She reached over to Claire’s hands and stopped them from pulling up more grass. Claire hesitantly looked up at her.

“Claire-“

***

“Claire,” said Alex, throwing a pillow across the room that landed hard on Claire’s chest. She sat straight up from the air mattress and managed to deflate it pulling her knife from beneath her pillow. She sunk into the floor with an undignified yelp. Alex snickered as she watched Claire extract herself from the sheets, acknowledging Alex with a glare that could peel paint off walls.

“What?” Claire demanded.

“It’s noon,” said Alex. “I know you snuck out for practice last night, but c’mon.”

“I got back before morning,” Claire muttered. Alex looked her up and down. She was still wearing her clothes from last night and had collapsed into bed exhausted after a few hours of beating a punching bag into a slightly more dented punching bag. She seemed to be under the impression that Alex and Jody didn’t have ears. “Besides, last I checked I didn’t have a curfew.”

“Yeah, well I work Saturday mornings,” said Alex. “And you’re not as sneaky as you think, Inspector gadget. Try using the door instead of the window next time.”

“I don’t want Jody to-“ Claire cut herself off. “She’s gonna tell me I’m training too much. She’s gonna tell me that I have to stop.”

“Stop working yourself to death? Jeez, what an awful thing to do. I can see why you’re so worked up about it,” Alex said sarcastically. “Look, I am thrilled you’re going a little less laissez faire with the hunting, Claire, but you can’t control everything. And it would be nice if you didn’t burn yourself out trying.”

“How about you get someone killed and then you come back and lecture me what exactly I’m supposed to do about it,” said Claire icily. Alex raised her eyebrows, and Claire back off after a second. “Sorry, I didn’t-“

“Think. Yeah,” said Alex. “It’s fine. The people I got killed… well I guess that’s the difference between being the hapless hero and being bait. I knew what I was doing.”

Claire’s eyes fell down, and Alex silently willed her not to ask about it. Because mostly Alex tried to push those kinds of thoughts into the far recesses of her head. The kinds of thoughts that told her when she was helping at the blood bank that Momma would be proud if she took as many bags as she could and ran home. Momma was dead of course, and Alex knew that but it was still just reflex. She sometimes wondered if she’d ever really be free of those kinds of thoughts.

Jody said it didn’t matter. It didn’t make her any less of a person. And if Alex didn’t have faith in Jody, she didn’t have faith in anything.

“How do you live with it?” Claire asked, staring intently at her hands.

“I try really damn hard to be better and to be grateful I even got the chance,” said Alex. “You might want to do the same.”

“You’re really busting my balls today, huh?” Claire muttered. Alex managed a smile.

“No one else is going to,” she said. “Patience made you an omelette.”

“Is it poisoned?”

“Only one way to find out,” Alex said, leaning back so Claire could walk past her in the doorway. As she did, Alex caught the faint smell of gun smoke and frowned as she walked away. Claire knew better than to shoot a gun in a residential area, and Alex hadn’t heard anything the night before. Maybe it was just because it was the leather jacket Claire always wore, and the smell was lingering from old hunts. Still, Alex worried.

***

Patience was a stress cooker. Ronson had always used to joke that finals was her favorite time of year because it was the off season for volleyball and Patience supplied her with a steady stream of cookies the entire week, due to the surplus of baked goods that piled up in the Turner house. Patience currently had twenty unread text messages on her phone from Ronson, but she tried not to think about that.

Cooking was methodical and precise. If you followed the recipe, you knew what was going to come out. There was no mistaking muffins for cupcakes or bagels for donuts, or a dead girl for a grieving one. As long as you did what you were supposed to there was no chance of getting it wrong. And if you broke a few eggs, well they were just eggs. Nobody got hurt.

“You trying to replace Jody?” Claire asked behind her. Patience turned around, wiping her hands on her jeans and reminding herself she’d need to wash them again before going back to kneading bread. Claire looked down at the plate with the cold omelette on it “It isn’t bad.”

“Probably better two hours ago,” Patience said. Claire nodded, using her fork to take another bite while staring Patience down. “No.”

“Still?”

“Claire, if I have a vision, you will be the first person to know,” said Patience, which wasn’t true but she felt like she owed Claire the comfort of the lie at least. Patience never really stopped having visions, but they were mostly useless. They were visions of Alex telling part of a story about one of her patients before she came home for the day or visions of Claire writing in her notebook or Jody needing an extra cup of coffee before a long shift. It wasn’t what Claire was looking for. And if she saw what Claire was looking for, the first person she’d be telling is Jody. “I promise.”

Claire flinched, glaring at Patience for no reason she could figure out. Then she stalked back off to the dining room, leaving Patience to wonder what the hell she’d done this time. It was almost better when Claire didn’t believe she was a psychic. At least then she hadn’t had to deal with the constant disappointment.

Patience washed her hands and went back to her work.

***

“Donna, hey,” said Jody picking up the phone and ignoring the look she got from Freddie. He could learn to mind his own business. She’d had to tell him off on multiple occasions from listening into calls on work phones and the little gossip mill he sustained all by himself. He had been trying to figure out exactly why Donna and Jody had become friends since Jody had come back from a police retreat and answered yes when he’d sarcastically asked if she’d made any friends.

One time he’d asked if it had anything to do with when all the dead people came back to life. Jody had told him to shut his fucking mouth.

“Hey Jodes,” Donna said, and her voice sounded off. Jody prepared herself for the worst.

“Still haven’t found Wendy?” she asked. “I can take some time off and come help. Alex is more than responsible enough-“

“No, don’t worry about it. She’s… well she’s not fine,” Donna said. “That’s kinda what I wanted to call you about.”

Jody felt her shoulders slump in relief. Still, something sounded off about Donna’s voice, like she was trying her best not to cry. She didn’t really know what to do with it. Donna was always so cheerful and straightforward, but if there was one time she had told Jody to back the hell off it was when Jody had tried to help her with a personal issue. Sure, telling the first (and worse) Doug off hadn’t been Jody’s job, but… It had left her feeling like she couldn’t talk about anything except monster stuff with Donna, even after all this time. The horror of losing family was well within the closeness of their friendship. But normal shit? It just didn’t come up, and if it did Donna shrugged it off with ease. Or at least she seemed to.

“Is everything okay?” Jody asked cautiously.

“The people that kidnapped Wendy… they were gonna cut her up and sell her as monster chow,” said Donna weakly. “Like Blue Apron for your local creatures of the night.”

“That’s… wow,” Jody said, looking down at the sandwich she had been about to eat for lunch and casually tossing it in the trash. “God, I feel sick.”

“We took care of ‘em,” said Donna. “I’m sorry I haven’t called to loop you in, I’ve just been- Doug left me.”

“Donna-“

“And then Wendy got out of the hospital and she’s still… Everything terrifies her, Jodes. Amy doesn’t really know how to handle it, and you know how I told you Tom never really got over Wendy voting blue first time she got a chance in the last election,” said Donna. “Always butting heads, those two. He doesn’t really know how to be gentle with her. Doesn’t know how to deal with her when she’s not arguing back, just taking it.”

“Yeah, it sounds like a tough time,” said Jody.

“She wants to stay with me but,” Donna paused a moment letting the sentence hang in the air. “I’m not in the best headspace right now, Jodes. I just got a whole lotta dumped. And besides, every time I think about what happened to Wendy, I keep wondering if I had just… told her what was out there-“

“Donna, it is not even remotely your fault” Jody said stopping her. They were back on firmer ground now. Except for the dumped thing which Jody was not going to touch unless Donna brought it up first. She’d learned her lesson with that last time. “Are you asking me if I can take her in?”

“Just for a week or two,” Donna said. “And I’ll pay you back any cash you need, I know you’ve got a full house-“

“You don’t need to give me anything,” said Jody. “I’m more than happy to have her. A fresh face might be just what the girls need anyway. Things have been kinda tense recently.”

“Is Claire still dead set on, y’know,” said Donna. “Training the hell out of herself like she’s racing to do who knows what?”

“She was up until 4 a.m. last night,” said Jody. “And Alex had to go to the hospital for her shift at 6. I’m not getting any sleep.”

“She just needs time,” said Donna. “And you fretting over her is probably less going to help than it is going to make the both of you miserable.”

“Yeah, probably,” muttered Jody. “Anything else you need to…”

Jody trailed off. For a little while she thought Donna wasn’t even going to answer.

“Doug isn’t even speaking to me,” said Donna. “Sometimes I think it’s cause he’s scared of who I am. What I do. I was going to tell him someday you know, if things stayed good but he didn’t just dip his toes in the life Jodes. Gosh, he nearly was the life.”

“Things will work out, one way or another,” said Jody.

“He called me a hero,” said Donna. “I never really wanted to be a hero. I liked what I had. To me, hunting was just more of what I was already doing. Helping people. But he didn’t see it like that. I didn’t think I’d have to give him up for it, y’know?”

Jody remembered the gunshot that had gone off as she shot her own son between the eyes. The blank look in her husband’s face as he lay there with his body torn open like a candy wrapper. Jody thought about the call she’d gotten saying Asa Fox was dead and would she like to go to his funeral and then thought to herself that maybe Donna got the better side of things. She didn’t say anything of the sort out loud.

“You’ve always got us,” she said instead. That seemed to cheer Donna up, if only slightly.

***

Wendy didn’t really know what to expect when she walked through the front door of Jody Mill’s home. From what Aunt Donna had said, she half expected it to look like something out of Annie. All she knew for sure was that Jody knew about what had happened to her, and that was making it easier for her to breathe. Her mom and dad kept expecting her to talk about it and she just wanted to feel safe again, not relive every terror inducing minute of her kidnapping.

What she walked into was a loud argument.

“Why does she have to stay in my room?” demanded a curly haired blonde girl that Wendy sort of detachedly clocked as her type. Maybe if she wasn’t so angry looking. Another girl with long black hair was looking at the blonde with crossed arms and a fed up expression.

“Do you want to bunk with Patience?” the dark haired girl asked. The blonde shook her head. “That’s your only other option.”

“Um,” said Wendy quietly, startling both girls into silence. “Jody just told me to use the key under the mat.”

“Wendy, hey,” said the dark haired girl. She reached out a hand to shake. “I’m Alex. This ray of sunshine here is Claire.”

“Hi,” Wendy said. A kind of awkward silence held in the air for a moment. “Where should I-?”

“Follow me,” said Claire, sweeping past her without so much as a backward glance. Yep, definitely Wendy’s type. Unfortunately. She followed after her up the stairs and turned into a brightly lit room with a bed and a sagging air mattress that didn’t seem to be holding air quite as well as it used to. “The bed’s yours.”

Wendy blinked, having expected the opposite sleeping arrangements. She felt kind of bad leaving Claire to sleep on the shitty air mattress, but not enough to say anything about it. She set her bag down on the bed, then sat cross legged on top of the covers. Claire looked at her expectantly.

“You need anything?” she asked. Wendy shook her head and Claire left without another word. Wendy laid down and stared at the wall.

Monsters are real, Aunt Donna had told her. Wendy had rather liked her view of the world, honestly. No hell below, above only sky. And no goddamn monsters either, at least not outside metaphors and fables and urban legends. Wendy tucked her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them, trying to will herself to do anything else.

Claire found her there a few hours later. She had on the same mildly angry expression she’d been wearing the first time they met. But before she spoke, she took a good long look at Wendy and it softened a little.

“Jody made dinner,” said Claire. “I’d say we’d save you a plate if you don’t hurry, but with the way Patience eats there’s no promises.”

Wendy smiled a little at that and nodded her head. She sat up and followed Claire down to the dining room, where Patience, Alex, and Jody were already sitting and passing food around. She ate the meal in mostly silence despite Jody’s attempts to include her in the conversation and excused herself early to go back to lying in bed.

***

Jody wasn’t really asleep when Wendy burst into her room, but she had been getting there and it was something of an effort not to let out an annoyed groan at her hurried shaking. Wendy sounded a little frantic, and as soon as Jody’s mind caught up to her she sat straight up.

“What’s wrong?”

“I woke up and Claire was gone,” Wendy said hurriedly. “I- I swear I don’t know what happened. She-“

“She snuck out,” Jody said instantly. “She’s fine. She does this.”

“But-“ Wendy said again.

“Wendy, listen for a second,” Jody said, putting both hands on the girl’s shoulders. Wendy stopped speaking and after a second or two the both of them could hear a rhythmic thud coming from the backyard. “That’s Claire. She’s practicing throwing knives in the back shed. She’s fine.”

Wendy’s cheeks burned bright red, but she nodded and looked relieved. Jody let out a sigh and pulled the poor girl in for a hug, which Wendy seemed to appreciate. She stayed there for a good thirty seconds and Jody let her take all the time she needed before Wendy gently pushed her away and took a deep breath.

“I thought no one was coming for me,” Wendy said quietly, and Jody remembered a blind date with a demon that had ended with her choking on her own blood alone on a bathroom floor, and the utter belief that nothing was going to save her. It had been one reason she’d sworn off dating for such a long time because the feeling of being so helpless had nearly driven her off the deep end. And the first time she really gave it a shot again, Asa had to go and die when they were still figuring things out. And that… that was it’s own kind of helplessness. “If something had happened…”

I would have needed to do something went unsaid.

“I promise that you’re safe here. And so is Claire,” Jody said to her. “Go back to sleep. Claire will sneak back in sometime tonight. She’ll probably be there when you wake up.”

Wendy nodded and turned toward the door. She stopped for a moment and looked like she wanted to ask something. She seemed to decide against it and left, closing the door gently behind her. Jody sank back into her bed and determined that tomorrow was going to be a two coffee day.

She should probably have been less surprised the next morning when Patience gave her a mug and a coffee to go before she even asked.

***

Claire kept her head still as she leaned back against Kaia’s legs. Her friend was muttering about braiding being harder than it looks. Claire smiled at the feeling of fingers running through her hair and the messy attempt Kaia was making of french-braiding it. The TV was playing in front of them, some televangelist ranting about sins and how if you called in to send money you might not go to hell. It was easy to tune out.

“Why do you have so much hair?” Kaia asked, abandoning her project to tilt Claire’s head back and leaning over her so they could look each other in the eye.

“It looks good like this,” said Claire. “I like it.”

Kaia shrugged her shoulders and gave her a look that went something along the lines of ‘Okay, but you’re crazy.’ Claire gently pushed Kaia’s face away, more affectionate than irritated.

“If you keep it short,” Kaia said. “It’s easier to not take care of.”

Claire turned around to look at her. Kaia looked back.

“I can take care of you,” Claire said.

“No you can’t,” said Kaia. “But you tried really hard.”

“Kaia?” Claire said, suddenly feeling panic start to build because there was something she wasn’t remembering. Something really important that she needed to-

“Everything’s fine,” said Kaia, and the panic disappeared instantly. Almost suspiciously instantly. “I’m sorry. We shouldn’t talk about it. You just get upset.”

“About creepy televangelists?” Claire asked, eyes flicking to the TV. She was at a loss to what exactly they had been talking about. It slipped out of her mind like water off a duck. “Well yeah, not surprising. Ask me about angels sometime, and you’ll find out just how much God owes me and a long list of other people a personal fucking apology.”

Kaia’s eyebrows furrowed at that. Claire shrank away from her curious glance and Kaia climbed off the couch to sit next to her. After a second she reached out and held Claire’s hand.

“You can tell me if you need to,” Kaia offered. Claire let her head drop onto her friend’s shoulder, mostly so she could avoid looking at her.

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.”

***

Claire slept like the dead, Patience thought as she shoved Claire for the third time and jumped back just in case the girl went for her knife. At least Wendy had started talking more. She’d even thanked Patience for breakfast unlike some other people who couldn’t even be bothered to get up for it.

“Claire,” Patience said again, crossing her arms and resisting the urge to grab a bucket of water and do this. Normally waking up Claire was Alex’s job, but she was in class at the moment and that meant it was down to Patience or just letting Claire sleep. Which Patience would do except unfortunately Jody had found a case and if she let Claire sleep in, Patience knew she’d get pissed later. “Claire!”

“What?” she demanded sleepily, barely awake. She shook herself a little and looked up at Patience with what almost looked to be tears in her eyes. Patience blinked, wondering where the hell that had come from. “I swear to God this better be important.”

“I’m sorry for interrupting your beauty sleep, Rapunzel,” muttered Patience under her breath. “Jody found something and she wanted you to look into it before she got back from work. Just thought you’d want to know.”

“Get out of my room,” said Claire, burying her head back into her pillow.

“Okay then,” said Patience, putting her hands up in surrender and leaving. She walked back down to the living room where Wendy was still reading the morning newspaper. She sat next to her and was decidedly glad that someone at least knew how to have a normal conversation in this house. “How’s the world doing?”

“Shitty, but what’s new,” Wendy said, sounding more confidant than she had in the few days she’d been there. “How’s Claire?”

“She’s upset, like always,” Patience said not very diplomatically. “I mean she’s a pain, but it’s not like I don’t get it. She lost someone recently and it hurt her a lot. When Ronson lost her mom in middle school she did a lot of lashing out. I was one of the few people she didn’t yell at and that was because she figured I could relate. It sucks dealing with, but some people are just like that.”

“The person Claire lost… was it Kaia?” Wendy asked, sounding a little guilty about saying the word out loud. Patience frowned at her.

“Claire told you about her?”

“No. She talks in her sleep sometimes,” said Wendy. “And she’s actually pretty nice, you know. Claire, I mean.”

“Maybe to you,” said Patience.

“And she’s cute, too,” said Wendy, sounding a little wistful. Patience frowned at her, wondering what that had to do with anything.

“Uh, sure,” she said. “I guess.”

Wendy nodded to herself, and then noticed the weirded out look on Patience’s face.

“What are you looking at?” she asked, huffing her chest up a little defensively. So much for a normal conversation.

“Just glad to see you’re feeling better,” Patience said, making a tactful retreat to her bedroom. Maybe Alex would be home soon. At least she usually didn’t get weirdly aggressive for no reason.

***

Alex came home from class to find Claire pouring over newspapers, laptop open and a pen chewed to hell hanging out of her mouth. Wendy was sitting next to her, eyes scanning curiously over everything Claire circled and frowning slightly at whatever Claire was searching. The fact that both Wendy and Claire were awake and not actively acting traumatized was enough to stop Alex dead in her tracks.

“Hey you two,” said Alex carefully. “Where’s Patience?”

“Sulking in your room,” said Claire, taking the pen out of her mouth to circle something else. “Jody found a case. Men between the ages of sixteen and forty, doesn’t seem to be a pattern. No bodies found, but the last reported place seeing most of them is… St. Mary’s Cathedral. Cops didn’t pick up that St. Mary’s was important because the disappearances are weirdly spaced. First disappearance was thirty years ago. Sometimes a couple can happen within a few weeks and the longest break between kills is about ten years. Doesn’t help that the church isn’t in the greatest part of town.”

“Doesn’t sound like a hunting thing,” Alex said diplomatically. Claire held up a finger as her eyes scanned the computer looking for something. She made a small ‘aha’ noise when she found it.

“Jody’s tracked calls about break ins at the church. There’s been repeated reports by the clergy that a woman in her late twenties has startled them at night, wandering the pews. She’s never been caught and no one recognizes her. It’s why Jody started looking into whether there were any violent deaths at the church. The disappearances didn’t come up immediately but once she found them, kinda hard to argue something isn’t going on.”

Alex chewed her lip.

“What are you thinking?”

“Don’t know yet,” said Claire, eyes once again glued to her screen. “Could be an angel, but I don’t think so. A ghost is more likely, but even that doesn’t quite… fit.”

The pen went back into Claire’s mouth.

“You’re going to get ink all over your shirt again,” Alex pointed out. Claire made a face at her and spitefully continued chewing on her pen. Wendy seemed to be content to watch this. “I’m going to go make sure you didn’t drive Patience to the breaking point. You two crazy kids have fun.”

“Uh huh,” said Wendy, distracted by something or other Claire was doing. She waved in Alex’s general direction and Alex figured that was all the hello she was going to be getting. Which was fine, she was sure that watching Claire chew on a pen was riveting stuff or whatever.

***

“You need a bed,” said Wendy, Claire started from where she was lying down and looking at her list of names for possible interviews. “Your back’s gotta be killing you, girl.”

“I’m fine.”

“Not going to disagree with that,” said Wendy, which caused Claire to look directly at her and quirk an eyebrow. “I- Not that- The point is that you should have a real bed. You live here and I feel bad sleeping in a bed while you sleep in a half deflated air mattress every night.”

“Jody got a bed frame, but we’ve all been busy,” said Claire with a shrug. “We’ll get to it. Trust me, this is more comfortable than a lot of the places I’ve lived. Sleeping in a car, now that’s uncomfortable.”

“That’s true,” said Wendy, remembering that had been one of the less fun parts of her gap year. Not counting the whole getting kidnapped and almost sold on the black market thing. “You know, I could help. Put the bed frame together, I mean. My dad was big into teaching me how to change a tire and not follow Ikea instructions, so when it comes to handy stuff, uh, I’m your girl.”

Claire sat up now, and had something like a smirk on her face.

“Jody would kill me if she found out I made you do free labor,” said Claire. “So thanks, but no thanks.”

“Who says it’s free?” asked Wendy. She put her hand under her chin and pretended to think very seriously. “I like donuts.”

“You like- Okay,” said Claire with a little laugh. “A dozen by the hour?”

“If it takes me an hour, I’ve failed as a carpenter’s daughter,” said Wendy. “But I’ll still take the dozen. We could go halfsies on the work and on the donuts, if you’ve got a sweet tooth and wanna learn a thing or two.”

Claire thought about it for a second.

“Deal,” she said, leaning forward to reach out and shake Wendy’s hand. “I have to figure out where Jody keeps the tools. The garage is kind of a mess.”

Wendy felt all lit up inside hearing Claire agree, and maybe let her hand linger in Claire’s a little longer than it needed too. Claire seemed to notice after a second, and slid her hand back. Wendy was pretty sure she was blushing.

“I have to go- I think Jody might be home and I should update her on the case,” said Claire hurriedly. “So, we’ll just, uh-“

Claire nearly tripped and fell on her ass over one of the books she’d left on the floor. She stumbled backwards and quickly regained her balance.

“Have fun monster-hunting,” said Wendy, as Claire glared down at the book like it had personally and purposely seen fit to sabotage her. Claire looked up at her, opened her mouth as if to say something, then snapped it shut.

“Bye,” she said quickly, leaving the room. Wendy managed to wait only a few seconds before breaking out into laughter. Claire’s frustrated voice called back from the hallway. “I can hear you laughing!”

***

Jody was surprised to see a lack of complete focus in Claire when they went on their way to do the interviews of family of the more recent suspects. Instead of the almost manic gleam in her eye that had been present ever since she’d come back from that other world, there was something like conflict.

“You doing okay?” Jody asked her. Claire started and looked toward her side of the car and shrugged.

“We’ve got a plan,” said Claire. “I feel good about it. Once we figure out what this thing is, we’ll know how to kill it.”

“I meant you personally, Claire,” said Jody. “I know you took Kaia’s-“

“I don’t want to talk about that,” said Claire, voice cold. “Bringing it up every two days isn’t going to make it better, so maybe you should just stop.”

Jody pulled over.

“Claire. No, look at me. You don’t owe me an explanation for anything. But I’m not going to stop caring. I know what loss feels like, and I know sometimes nothing is going to help. There’s always going to be a hole there, and that’s okay. But if you need me, for anything, I’m here.”

“I know, Jody,” Claire said. “I just want to focus on the case.”

Jody relented and did as Claire asked. She said hello to Mrs. Lowell who she had known since she was Claire’s age and asked her about her grandson. If he had any troubles, if there was any important detail Mrs. Lowell could think of that would lead them to his kidnapper. There was nothing much that came out of it, excepting that he had been misleading her sometimes as to his whereabouts. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff for a teenage boy.

It wasn’t until Claire came down from where she had been ‘hanging out’ with Robert Lowell’s sister Natalie that Jody learned that misleading about his whereabouts had been a euphemism for meeting up with someone that Robert didn’t want his grandmother to know about. Natalie hadn’t known who, but had suspected it had something to do with the very public breakup he and his girlfriend had gone through the week before his disappearance.

Two other interviews followed, one with the wife of a missing lawyer and the other with the mother of a fraternity brother who had been home for summer break when he had gone missing. Neither seemed like they had been particularly pleasant or considerate during life, but there was nothing worth murdering them over. Jody was coming up with nothing, and figured that it was time to go to the source of all of the mayhem.

St. Mary’s Cathedral was about as old as Sioux Falls itself. It was a daunting, ugly stone structure and almost certainly didn’t meet current building standards, but no one bothered trying to tear it down. No one put up much of a fight to preserve it as historical either. It was just the weird old church that most people in Sioux Falls avoided. That being said, it was the only Catholic church within walking distance in this part of town, so it still had its share of patrons.

Father Hellen met them with a tired smile, and listened to Jody’s line of questioning with increasing interest. He actually told her to stop for a moment and went to go and get his notebook before returning. Once he had come back with the book and reading glasses, he proceeded to scan various pages. He looked up eventually with a frown.

“Yes, all of them were regular attendants at church here,” he said. “I’ve had more than one of them for confession. Which is… odd.”

“Odd?” Jody prompted, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Claire was casually trying to scan the pews for EMF. If the way the machine was lighting up was any indication, they had their answer. Ghost. Definitely a ghost.

“They shared similar vices,” he said. “One was a serial adulterer. Robert Lowell had started seeing a girl who was more open to sex than his current girlfriend, something he greatly regretted and confessed to after his girlfriend broke up with him because of the incident. I could go on, but… I’d prefer to protect the dead’s privacy if at all possible. I only share Robert’s story because it was common knowledge among his friends.”

“Understood,” Jody said with a nod. She looked back toward Claire and did a double take. For a second she could have sworn there was someone trailing behind her. A pretty woman, glaring at the back of Claire’s head like she wanted to run a knife through her neck. But at second glance there was no one there. “And what about the reports?”

“Reports?” he asked.

“The woman,” Jody asked. “What about her.”

“Oh, poor Freya,” said Father Hellen, tutting sympathetically. “I’ve told them to stop calling about her. It won’t do any good. Of course, my peers don’t give much credence to my point of view.”

“Freya?” Jody tried. Father Hellen nodded.

“She was a devout woman. I knew her when I had only just started preaching here,” said the priest. “She loved this place more than anything. But when she lost her baby, she lost a part of herself too. I found her with her blood soaked into the floorboards. Heaven is denied to those who take their own lives. Poor, poor Freya.”

Claire had made her way back to Jody. Jody signaled for her to go wait in the car, which Claire did with a minimum of eye-rolling, which was all that Jody could really ask from her.

“And Freya’s friendly?” Jody asked him. Father Hellen’s expression changed thoughtfully. He grimaced after a moment.

“I’d always thought so,” he said. “But, perhaps… I may have been mistaken.”

Jody stared at him. There was something secretive about the way he shifted, and Jody found herself suspecting he knew more than he let on. After another ten seconds, the priest sighed and spoke.

“You do good work Jody,” he said. “But there are those who are hunted that need protection.”

“And you-“

“Yes,” said Father Hellen. “A conversation for another day, perhaps. If Freya is hurting anyone, you have my leave to do what is necessary. I only wanted to spare her any greater pain. If I had known- I’m sorry.”

Jody just stared at him, dumb-founded. “We are having a conversation after this is over.”

“It was nice seeing you, Jody,” he said, about as cheerfully as he could manage. Which was to say not very. Jody shook her head and left the church only to see Claire standing outside the door.

“You were supposed to wait in the car,” said Jody.

“He’s like sixty. And he’s a priest,” said Claire instead. “I mean, c’mon.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure,” said Claire sarcastically. She adopted the tired, somber but oddly high pitched cadence of Father Hellen. “‘It was nice seeing you, Jody.’”

Jody ignored the taunting and drove home, letting the new information collect together in her head. They had a lot more to go on now, and it was almost certainly going to end up being a salt and burn. That meant it would be relatively easily dealt with and Claire would be back on her feet, hunting-wise. She could handle a little teasing for that.

***

Patience gave in and called Ronson, because her clean break rule was driving her crazy. She missed her best friend, and she just wanted someone to talk to. She wanted to know how the volleyball team was doing, how Miranda had taken it when she found out she didn’t need to fight Patience for valedictorian anymore, even what that lame ass guy in her Chemistry class had said when she stopped showing. If it didn’t have to do with monsters, it was fair game.

“Patience?” asked Ronson. “Oh thank God. Where the hell have you been?”

“I… I got in a fight with my dad,” said Patience. “I wanted to call you but you would not believe some of the things I’ve… I just didn’t know what to say.”

Ronson stayed quiet on the other side of the phone for a second, and Patience wondered which way this would go. Her best friend was one of the most supportive people on the planet, but if you overstepped her trust you were in for it. Patience had never been on the wrong side of that line, but she remembered the cold shoulder Ronson had given to people who were. It wasn’t fun.

“Was it about school or something?” Ronson asked. “Did he kick you out? You could have stayed with me, you know that. I mean, Dad invites you over for Passover. You’re practically family.”

“I can’t,” said Patience. “And no, Dad just… he gave me an ultimatum okay? And I can’t back down from it now.”

Patience was starting school in Sioux Falls as soon as all the transfer papers went through. She didn’t mention this to Ronson, who had started babbling about how much people missed Patience and she wondered a moment if this is why she had called. To prove that someone cared about and appreciated her somewhere. Sure she loved Ronson to death and it was a relief to hear her voice, but talking with her was always such an ego boost, too.

What Patience was doing now was important, but who she used to be felt important. She had a clear goal in mind, a plan to achieve it, and a support system to see her through. Ironic as it was, the more she got a handle on her psychic abilities, the less clear the future seemed.

Patience ended the call with a hurried goodbye, and tried to ignore the strain her friend’s voice as she told Patience to call back when she could. When Patience looked up, it was to see Wendy looking at her from across the room.

“Who was that?” she asked. Patience looked up.

“My best friend,” she said. “She doesn’t know about all of… this.”

Patience gestured at the house in general. Before she could say anything else, Wendy’s phone started buzzing. She picked it up to check the caller ID, scowled at whatever name was lighting up her phone and hung up.

“Who’s that?” she asked. Wendy looked up again.

“Ex-girlfriend,” she said. “She calls me every once in a while, usually after she gets wine drunk with her mom watching the Bachelor.”

Patience snorts. A moment later, exactly what Wendy had said hit her.

“Oh,” she said. “That… that makes more sense. When you said Claire was cute you meant like… Oh.”

Wendy seemed more amused than anything at Patience’s revelation.

“Should I even ask what you thought I meant?”

“Nope. That is not something we need to talk about,” said Patience. “So, it didn’t end well with your ex?”

“Do high school relationships ever?” asked Wendy.

“I wouldn’t know. I’m not the dating type,” said Patience. “Guys aren’t really my thing. At least not until I-“

Patience cut herself off from her five year plan speech because she didn’t have a fucking five year plan anymore. She would probably go to the local college instead of an Ivy League, she wasn’t going to be research scientist or a doctor. She was just going to be a psychic. It seemed unfair, having something so fundamental about your life practically decided for you.

“Until I know what the hell I’m doing,” Patience finished lamely. Wendy nodded in understanding.

“Yeah I get that. The whole finding yourself thing,” said Wendy. “That’s part of the reason I wanted to take a gap year. Know thyself or whatever.”

“I wish I did,” muttered Patience. Wendy offered a sympathetic smile.

***

Wendy and Claire ended up finishing the bed frame in almost no time. Wendy was pretty sure that Claire was almost disappointed there wasn’t more to it, though she seemed less so when she realized they could now share the box of donuts that Claire had picked up earlier.

“Now you just need a mattress.”

“Yeah, Jody’s picking one up after work,” said Claire. “Then we have hunting stuff to work on.”

“I thought you figured it out?” Wendy asked. Claire shook her head a little, reaching to take another donut out of the box before leaning back against the wall. She spoke with her mouth full, and Wendy was equal parts annoyed and infatuated.

“The easiest way to get rid of a ghost is to burn their bones,” said Claire. “But Freya Spellman’s husband had her cremated. Which really sucks, because she almost definitely wanted to be buried and he had to have known that. And it also sucks for us, because now we have to figure out what’s keeping her here.”

“So ghosts are tied to their bodies except when they’re not?” Wendy asked.

“Yeah. Sometimes personal items can be haunted, but usually there’s still part of their DNA attached to that. Like a lock of hair in a locket. But that’s not always how it is. As far as I can tell, there aren’t any hard and fast rules, it’s more like… you have to destroy what they’re most attached too. Physical or emotional. That’s the only way to get rid of ghosts.”

“Right,” said Wendy. “That’s just… very logical.”

Claire turned to her, face expectant. Wendy shrugged and looked away.

“Everything has different rules than I thought it did,” said Wendy. “I don’t like it.”

“You get used to it.”

“You know… it’s like the allegory of the cave. I lived in this world and I thought it made sense. And then I got dragged out of it kicking and screaming and found out there was a whole new dimension to everything I never knew existed before. But I can’t go back to the cave and the damn shadows on the wall because I can’t see them anymore. Now, all I see are monsters.”

Wendy watched as Claire’s face changed into something more somber.

“Ignorance is bliss,” she said after a second. “Sometimes I think it’s better that way.”

“Only sometimes?”

“What was your life like?” asked Claire. “Before you knew.”

Wendy let out a long gust of air.

“I spent a lot of years pissing people off,” said Wendy. “I came out when I was twelve. I stopped going to church when I was fourteen. Joined a feminist club in high school. Told my dad I was a democrat at a family reunion. Told my parents I was going to take a gap year like Aunt Donna, because I wanted to go on an adventure. My mom was so worried about me she called me every day. That’s probably the only reason they figured out I was missing so fast.”

“Sounds like you knew who you were,” said Claire. Wendy smiled a little at that, if only because she’d had to fight for every inch of her identity and knowing had never really come into it. She nudged her shoulder into Claire. Claire nudged back, just as playfully. Then she froze, looking guilty about something. Wendy searched for anything to say to fill the sudden silence.

“Could you teach me what to do if I ever have to… fight something off again?” asked Wendy. Claire closed her eyes and nodded. The guilty look didn’t leave her face.

“Yeah. I could do that,” she said. “Do you have a shotgun?”

“I don’t really like guns,” Wendy said. Claire’s eyes shot open and she scanned Wendy’s eyes for a moment before shaking her head and seeming to let something go.

“Flamethrowers are better for self defense anyway,” she said in an offhand manner that had Wendy practically choking back her laughter.

“Jesus, my dad would love you,” she said. “You’re really something, Claire.”

Claire looked down at her hands, letting the compliment slide off her shoulders. Wendy reached out and tipped up her chin so Claire was meeting her eyes. She leaned in slowly, giving Claire time to dodge out of the way or say no. Claire’s eyes got wider and wider the closer Wendy got. Just before she closed the distance, Wendy stopped and found herself going crosseyed trying to keep the girl’s face in focus.

“Claire?”

Claire’s hand fell behind her neck and pressed Wendy forward the last inch. Her lips were soft, and she wasn’t a slouch when it came to kissing. Wendy sat up and maneuvered one leg across Claire’s so she could kiss her more comfortably. Claire pulled her closer and Wendy reached out, one hand tangling in Claire’s hair and the other reaching for her hand.

The moment she’d taken hold, Claire froze again.

“I can’t,” she said, pushing Wendy away from her. “Stop, I can’t.”

Wendy backed away, letting Claire disentangle herself.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“I just can’t, okay?” Claire said. She left without another word, leaving Wendy to wonder what the hell had just happened.

***

“A woman in white,” Claire said, shaking Jody from where she had fallen asleep across the papers laid in front of her. “Listen: Women with unfaithful husband kills her children and then herself. After her death she avenges women who have suffered as she has at the hands of men.”

“We have no proof her husband cheated on her or that she killed her child,” said Jody. Claire noticed something off about her voice. Besides the sleepiness, that was.

“He remarried three months after she died,” said Claire. “Seems like proof to me. And the profile fits.”

Jody’s face tightened into something unreadable, and Claire remembered something Alex had shared with her once when Jody had left them alone all day. She’d said that Jody was visiting the cemetery where her son and husband were buried. It had been hinted that Jody felt responsible for their deaths. Claire cleared her throat, moving on quickly.

“It’s fine either way. Still a ghost,” said Claire, shelving the vague feeling she’d had that they might have to deal with the woman in white differently than a normal ghost. “I figured out what she’s tied to.”

“Yes?” Jody asked, sounding interested.

“Father Hellen said her blood was soaked into the floorboards. I don’t care how long they scrubbed it for, they didn’t get rid of it.”

“We are not burning the church down.”

“Just a controlled area with Father Hellen’s help,” said Claire. Jody stared her down. “It’s the best option.”

Jody rubbed her forehead and looked at the papers spread across the table in front of her.

“You’re probably right,” she said. “God I need more sleep.”

“We can do it tomorrow,” said Claire. “Go to bed, Jody. I’ll finish up. You can trust me.”

“I know I can, kid,” said Jody. She leaned down and kissed the top of Claire’s head, arm squeezing around her shoulder. “Get some sleep, too.”

“Okay, mom,” said Claire, distractedly working on putting together as many details as she could. It didn’t occur to her just what she’d said until much later. She didn’t know exactly how to feel about it.

The next night, they were as ready as they were going to get for the hunt. Alex was on standby in case there were any injuries. Father Hellen had marked and soaked with gasoline the section of floorboard he remembered Freya had died on, and had a fire extinguisher on hand in case the fire got too big. Claire and Jody were armed to the teeth.

Freya, as it turned out was a better fighter than they had been planning on.

As Father Hellen was preparing to start burning part of the floor, the room grew colder and colder. He hurried with the lighter in his hand, fear shining through his eyes. Claire felt a thrill of shock go through her when he was knocked unconscious with a floating bible and a resounding thunk. He dropped the lighter, which quickly caught on his robes. Jody scrambled for the fire extinguisher, and Claire had no time to react before she was thrown against one of the stone walls.

“Ugh,” she said, wondering if she had a concussion. She certainly felt dizzy. She tried to get up, and as she did so, Freya appeared in front of her. Claire backed up, reaching for her iron pipe and readying to take a swing.

Freya’s hand lurched out and pushed through Claire’s chest.

“You left her there,” she said and Claire dropped the pipe in surprise. “You knew how terrified she was and you left her there. And now she’ll never wake up. You left her like my husband left me unburied, denied me my final rest.”

“I- I-,” said Claire.

“How long was it before you moved on?” asked Freya. Her fury paralyzed Claire so thoroughly, Claire wasn’t even sure she was still breathing. “How long?”

“I’m sorry,” Claire said as Freya’s hand tightened over her heart. “For everything, Kaia, I’m-“

Claire let out a scream as the hand tightened further. She was going to die. She was going to die and she wasn’t even really convinced she didn’t deserve it.

“Unfaithful whore,” Freya whispered viciously. “You-“

Freya was cut off when the iron pipe Claire had dropped cut through the back of her head. Jody stood there and stopped Claire from falling to the ground. Claire could feel the tears streaming down her face, and Jody wiped at them for a moment.

“Shoot at her if she shows up again. Father Hellen and I are going to finish this,” said Jody. “That woman may have killed her own daughter, but she’s not touching mine.”

Claire nodded, and had fully intended to follow Jody’s instructions. But in her careful sweep of the room to spot Freya before she could do any damage, Claire caught sight of an all too familiar pair of brown eyes. She did a double take and looked again, but saw nothing there. It didn’t matter. What she had seen out of the corner of her eyes was enough.

“Kaia?” Claire asked out loud. Her feet moved before she knew what she was doing. “Kaia!”

She ran up the stairs to the upper floor of the church. She ignored Jody’s shout after her, intent on chasing what could have just been her imagination for all she knew. It wasn’t until she reached the top of upper floor that she heard the rustling of someone walking by. Claire was about to run after the sound when she heard another loud shout for her, sounding much more urgent.

“Claire!” Jody yelled. Claire turned so she could see down on the first floor and saw Freya advancing on Jody and Father Hellen, who was not entirely awake at the moment. Jody’s gun had been thrown across the room. Claire heard the rustling noise again, and swallowed her desperate urge to follow it. Instead she shot Freya through the chest with rock salt. She did this again and again until at long last both the floorboards and Freya went up in flames.

“May God rest her soul,” said Father Hellen, looking down at the fire. He took the fire extinguisher and put it out with as much grace as could be expected given the circumstances. Jody let out a sigh of relief. After making sure that Freya was gone for good, Claire searched the entire upper floor. Nobody was there.

Jody found her soon enough, still wandering the halls waiting for something.

“Claire,” she said. “Let’s go home.”

***

Alex tugged Claire down into a seat when she tried to walk off immediately to her room so she could look at the startling purple bruise above her heart. She ignored Claire’s sulking like it was her job, which it kind of was, and passed her a bag of ice for the bruising. She had some minor cuts on her back that Alex put Neosporin on and then she moved onto Jody, who took the medkit and took care of herself.

Alex nodded and got up to leave Jody to it and go check in on Patience and Wendy, who had been anxious about how the hunt would go. Wendy especially had looked spooked, and it occurred to Alex it still really hadn’t been that long since she had been kidnapped from the side of the road and nearly turned into a meal. Not that Alex would know anything about things like that. Anymore.

Claire got up to leave, too, but Jody called her back. Alex hovered in the doorway, just out of sight and curious. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Claire like a sister, she did. It was just that it was frustrating that whenever she was around she was the center of Jody’s attention. Even when she was gone, she was most of what Jody worried about.

“Why did the ghost go after you?” Jody asked. Claire didn’t answer for a moment or two. “It tried to knock out Father Hellen, and it didn’t exactly go easy on me, but it went after you.”

“I guess,” said Claire, hesitantly.

Jody waited a while. Alex almost left, but then she started talking again.

“Patience told me,” she said next. “What you asked her to look for.”

Alex listened hard for Claire’s answer.

“Sometimes people come back,” said Claire. “Dean said so. Sometimes people come back.”

“Dean Winchester is one of the men I respect most in the world, but sometimes he has no fucking clue what he’s talking about,” said Jody, something like vehemence in her voice. “It’s better if the dead stay dead.”

“So what?” Claire asked back loudly. “He gets Mary and Sam and Cas, but I get nothing? I want my mom and dad back. I want Kaia back. And if I can’t have that, I want to rip the thing that killed her to pieces. She was so scared of that place and I left her there. I told her I was going to fight for her, and I’m not stopping until something gives.”

“And what if you’re the thing that gives!” shouted Jody. “Kaia wouldn't want you to get hurt.”

“You didn’t even know her,” said Claire.

“Neither did you,” said Jody, exasperated. Alex listened hard to the quiet after that. Claire must have made some expression or other, because Jody’s tone changed entirely. “Oh, honey…”

“You want to know why the ghost came after me?” Claire said bitterly. “Because I… because it’s been two weeks and I still let Wendy kiss me. Two weeks. Not a real long time waiting for someone to come back.”

Alex had known that Wendy had a crush on Claire courtesy of Patience telling her earlier in the week, so she wasn’t all that surprised by this. She was more surprised when Claire left the room and walked right past her. Then she stopped, turned around slowly and stared at Alex standing there.

“What?”

Alex wasn’t sure what, but she knew she didn’t like the lost, angry look in Claire’s eyes. So she said the first thing that came to her head.

“I can do what I can to help,” she said. “With the whole ripping to pieces thing. I mean, you can probably get more creative than that but… What I’m trying to say is don’t leave again, Claire. I know you don’t think so, but it’s better when you’re here.”

“You don’t think Kaia is coming back, either, do you?” asked Claire quietly.

“She could,” said Alex. “But people can come back wrong. Nobody knows that better than Jody. And I don’t want to see you get hurt. If you had to kill Kaia, even if it wasn’t really her, what do you think that would do to you?”

Claire looked away from her.

“It’s like Jody says,” said Alex. “Sometimes the dead should just stay dead. Not everyone gets lucky when they come back.”

***

Father Hellen made his way up the stairs to the upper rooms. Few ever came up this way, which made it an excellent sanctuary for those who needed it. The doorway he passed through blended seamlessly with the wall when closed. His most recent ward sat in sullen silence as he passed her food and a change of clothing which he knew she would refuse. She seemed quite taken with the long black cloak she wore.

“So you’re name is Kaia?” he said after a second. The girl didn’t deign to respond, instead slowly chewing on her food like she suspected it might be poisoned. “I suppose I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“Claire saw me,” said the girl. Father Hellen stopped. Kaia speaking was so rare as to be incredible each time it happened. “I’m not safe here.”

“You’re perfectly safe,” said Father Hellen. “No harm will come to you.”

“Like Freya was safe,” said Kaia, her tone observational. Father Hellen frowned.

“Freya was hurting people. And she was already dead,” said the priest. “They only forced her hand in moving on.”

Kaia didn’t say anything for a long time. Father Hellen grew uncomfortable under her eyes.

“Where I’m from,” said Kaia next. “We would have long ago fed you to the beasts.”

“Well, I suppose I’m lucky I live here,” he said. He did his best not to look at where the girl’s spear was across the room and how easy it would be for her to kill him, if she so chose. Kaia considered him for a moment, then nodded. Father Hellen relaxed. “Good night, Kaia.”

She had never responded to this before. There was no reason to suppose she might respond now.

“Good night.”

Father Hellen left, feeling perhaps at long last he had made progress. He knew that this girl was important, just as he had known Jody and Claire were important the first time he’d seen each of them. He wasn’t psychic in the traditional sense, but he was perceptive enough to see a kind of glow that certain people gave off. An aura one might say. Everyone was touched by the holy and the magical in some way, but some people were more involved than others. Claire especially was lit up from inside, enough that Father Hellen suspected she was a vessel for the divine, or had been at least.

***

The huntress had consumed Kaia. She’d taken over body, mind, and soul, and if Kaia didn’t know her other option was lying dead in a familiarly terrifying world, she would say that this was a worst case scenario. The only upside was when the huntress went to sleep and Kaia’s mind could wander.

Perhaps it was only the huntress that had been drawing her to the Bad Place, or maybe Kaia really had learned better control when it came to her power, but she had found that she could now wander what worlds she liked. Or what dreams she liked.

She was getting better to at exerting a certain amount of control over the dreams. Nothing creepy, just… letting someone forget for a while things that might upset them.

The stolen hours she had with Claire were keeping her sane. They walked now, along a snow covered side walk while Claire narrated to her about the house she’d grown up in. It was cold here and when Claire sat on her front steps, Kaia wished they could go somewhere else. She didn’t try to change the dream however, just sat next to her and listened until Claire ran out of things to talk about.

Seeing her in person wasn’t like seeing her in dreams. Claire had not looked happy when Kaia had seen her through the huntress’s eyes. She’d lost weight and and looked as though she hardly slept. In her dreams, Claire still looked healthy and happy. Or happier at least.

Kaia reached out and hugged Claire, trying to put some kind of warmth for the waking world into it. Claire clutched back at her.

“I’m going to miss this,” she said quietly. Kaia shook her head. “Kaia.”

“Please don’t make me leave,” Kaia said into Claire’s side. “Let me stay.”

“You’re not really here,” said Claire. “I’m just… dreaming. And then I have to wake up and I have to remember that you’re gone. I’m sorry for what I did to you, but I can’t- It hurts too much living like this.”

The words stuck in Kaia’s throat. She could tell Claire that it was her, really her. But realistically what would that mean? Was visiting Claire’s dreams doing more harm than good? She remembered those heavy bags under Claire’s eyes and felt her fists clench up.

She didn’t expect Claire to lean forward and peck her on the lips. It was barely long enough to be called a kiss, but Kaia still lifted her hand up to touch her mouth. Claire wasn’t looking at her.

“Just one time,” she said out loud. “Good thing you’re not real, or that would have been really humiliating.”

Kaia tucked herself into Claire’s side and didn’t comment on the kiss. The two of them huddled against the cold. If it was going to be the last time, Kaia was going to soak in every second of it.

When the huntress woke up in the morning, her face was wet with tears. She wiped one off with her finger, staring at it as though she didn’t quite know what to make of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought.


End file.
